Gone fishing…

The suns light shone briliantly across the fire nations fields. The gentle breeze caressed the long stalks of corn and made the soft leaves of the beans stalks dance. Birds across the nation rose and shook the dew drops from the brilliant feathers and took flight. The barking roosters sounded the alarms of sunrise, "Cock a doodle-bow!" and the cow-pigs and hopping-goats took their cue and rose from their nights rest and after a few lazy stretched went to begin their grazing.

Thin, low, clouds of the orange dust rose on the thin dirt road beneath each step and left a well defined print of where the two sets of feet-one belonging to a stout elderly man, the other his young apprentice and pupil-had been. But it didn't matter that they left a clear trail. In little more than an hour the road would be filled with young boys rushing to fetch things from town and give tidings to their neighbors before heading off after their fathers to the fields for a day of work. Carts would be driven over and herds guided to the valley below. No one would be able to discern the path that the two fire benders had taken.

The elderly man seemed to be enjoying himself immensely, he hummed softly to him self and took deep relaxing breaths, strolling steadily but easily. The young boy, however, was of mixed feeling on the matter. He enjoyed taking short hikes in the warm afternoons to go to one place or another. As he had done with his mother and sister before. He enjoyed going to the small secluded valley-like clearing. It was surrounded on all sides by great willow-blossom trees and had little blue bird in the bushes that would sit in the tree tops and sing happily. And when the wind blew then the soft petals of the blossoms would rain down and he and his sister would chase the fluttering velvet petals and try to snatch them out of the air. It had a stream that was warm and steady. Their were very tiny fish in the water that he would always try and fail to catch.

The yonug boy-though uncertain of where he was following his elder and teacher too, he knew that it was NOT the small secluded valley-like clearing with the warm stream, and the big trees and the little singing blue birds, there would be no raining blossoms and tiny fish to chase after. He was a bit grumpy from the unexpected early rising and the lack of a warm breakfast in his stomach. He was tiried of this strolling and the silence. He wanted to run up ahead and see where they were going but, he didn't know what was up ahead or where there was was to go in this part of the kingdom.

He had been instructed to stay by his Uncles side and just enjoy the morning air and let the stroll relax him. He was staying by his Unlces side, check. He had let the first few miles of the stroll relax him, but now he was tired, hungry to beyond denial and his paitience had worn out a mile ago. In short, there was a concentration of heat emantating the young boy.

The two traveled in silence for a while longer. Zuko fuming, his stomach growling all the way, "Uncle," He said finally, trying to sound more angry and intimadting then whiny, but being nine years old, he didn't do so well. "Where are we going?" He asked keeping up with the older mans lazy strides. "What is wrong? Not enjoying the walk?" The old general laughed.

"Are we there yet?" Zuko asked again. "Almost." His uncle replied as he left the beaten path and started down the sloping ditch and into a thicket. Zuko followed more slowly, but his Uncle continued confidently. "Unlce, I'm hungry, can we go back?" The boy called into the bush before pulling back the leafy branches to follow his uncle. "We will eat when we reach our destination." His uncle replied over his shoulder, vanishing into a thick bush. "Hurry Prince Zuko, dont fall behind." His uncles voice called back.

With quick but careful glances back, Zuko noted that no one was around and then filled with curiosity dove eagerly into the bushes. The bushes soon gave way to trees, which inturn got thicker and grew further and further from the dirt path above. Zuko saw a few signs that his uncle had passed the same way, a fresh broken twig, a strange half foot print, and an area where the thin branches of a thorn bush had been burned through. Zuko could hear a trinkling noise futher ahead, and there was a lot of animals in this small secluded forest.

He was just about to call out for his uncle, after fifteen minutes of manuevering through the bushes and tree trunks when he came upon a large clearing, there was a large pond in the middle of this forest with a steady flowing stream run off. There where cat-rabbits and eagel deers that leapt away from the stream as the prince approached.

"Uncle?" He called out. "Over here, my nephew, come and see." The familiar voice called from the other side of a large tree. Zuko, his hunger momentarily forgotten ran to see what his uncle had discovered. He found his teacher stooped by the bushes and holding a small baby fox-squirrel on his wrist. "Wow." He breathed. Fox-squirrels were very skittish creatures. The mother of the animal sat nearby, tense but paiteint.

The baby rubbed against Irohs rough hand and licked his finger with his soft, warm toungue. Purred softly and moved in a circle. "Can I hold it?" Zuko asked eagerly, extending his arms just a little to slowly. The creature screeched and the mother leapt onto the princes arm and nipped him fiercely.

"Ow!" The boy screamed as he threw the fox-squirrel off his wrist and cradled his injured hand. So much pain for such a small bite. The fox-squirrel turned daftly in the air and gripped onto the tree

That would have broken her neck had she hit it. Her baby leapt off of Irohs hands and raced up the tree after its mother. The two creatures disappeared into the branches.

"Stupid, fox-squirrel." Zuko grouched. "Dumb animal, I hate when they do that." He muttered angrily. Iroh watched as his nephew looked at the bleeding puncture wound. When he pulled his hand from under the trinkling stream it begin to gush with blood again. Zuko pushed on the wound, wincing at the pain and dunked it again. Again the wound bled anew, so he repeated the process twice more. Before groaning with defeat.

"Uncle," He said. Iroh had already risen to his feet and joined the boy by the stream. "Give me your hand." The old man said paitiently. "You need to stop the bleeding, so you push down on the punctured vein." He explained, "So put your fingers like this," He demonstrated with his own larger right hand and continued. "Put your thumb between these two fingers," Zuko mocked his hands demonstration. "Very good." Iroh said as he pushed his fingers down firmly. Blood squirted out of the wound and Zuko winced at the pain. But when the retired general removed his thumb from the muscle of his nephews hands. No blood came out. "You wont have any trouble out of that until tomorrow." He said with a smile as his nephew washed the blood from his hands and examined the wound.

After he was satisfied that his hand wasn't bleeding he returned to his thoughts of hunger. "Uncle, this place is really cool." The prince began tactfully, "But I am still hungry." The boy said. Clutching his stomach for emphasis. "Ofcoures my nephew. We shall eat immediately." His uncle said walking around in the clearing he began to gather sticks.

Zuko watched curiously, he knew his uncle was making a fire, but what for? It was warm, it was day, they had nothing to cook. Once the fire was blazing gently but steadily Iroh went and stood by the mirrored surface of the pond, staring into the water as if looking far into the distance. "Unlce, now what?" The boy asked, eager to get to the part of the morning where they would eat.

"Now," his uncle grinned untucking his shirt "we get breakfast." He pulled his shirt over his head and took it off. Zuko grimaced slighlty at the sight of his uncles white gray chest hair. Zuko laughed as his uncle dropped his pants and ran, in only his fire nation under wear, with his round belly flopping and leapt into the pond. Disappearing into a frothing wave of water, before breaching the surface again. Great heaving gasps.

"Come on in, Prince Zuko, the water is great." He called as he swam in small circles, remembering lessons from when he was a boy. Zuko was reluctant to join his half-nude uncle in the frigid water. "I dont want to." Zuko called back finally.

"Alright, but you dont swim, you dont eat."

"Why not!" The boy asked in horror.

"I am not your waiter, you get your own breakfast." His uncle laughed as he grabbed a medium sized fish from the water quickly and held it up for the boy to see. Zukos stomach groaned as his mouth sighed. He reached out his hand as if he'd be able to take the fish, Iroh let it the floundering fish drop back into the water. They both watched as it disappeared into the depths of the water.

"I dont want to get my clothes wet." Zuko protested, hoping his uncle would just bring him a fish.

"Then take them off." Iroh laughed. Zuko stood on the dry land for several moments as his uncle chased the frantic fish.

"I dont want to get sick either." Zuko called again

"The water is warm, we have a fire, were firebenders. We will dry." Iroh sai in a sing-song voice as he bobbed up and down, getting use to the water

"Yeah, but…" Zuko began a weak protest, He felt embarrassed. He didn't want to go swimming with his uncle. Even though his uncle was old now and had put on a few extra pounds after retiring from the military, The muscles were still defined and his large girth did little to hide the massive build of chest muscles that the recently retired general still held on to. Zuko felt small compared to grown men.

"Prince Zuko, come on help me." Iroh said putting on his best, helpless-old-man-face, "Your uncle is meant for the land, and he is old. The fish are quick. I cant get them alone." Iroh said in a begging tone. Zuko considered his uncles words, his stomach growled.

"Okay, I'll come in." Zuko said finally, untucking his shirt and loosening his belt, "But you have to turn around, and promise not to tease me!" The boy said as his cheeks grew pink.

Iroh laughed and his cheeks grew redder. "UNCLE!" The boy shouted. "Don't worry, prince Zuko, You may be scrawny now, but-"

"I am not scrawny!"

Iroh turned around and sunk deeper into the water, he was grateful his nephew didn't notice that he was still chuckling. There was a splash and a wave of water hit the general in his head, soaking him once again.

Then Zuko emerged from beneath the water, gasping. "COLD!" the boy shouted accusingly as he shivered first form shock, then from the chill. "I know." Iroh said. "Isn't it great?" he laughed.

"No." Zuko spat angrily. "Unlce you lied!" He pointed an accusing finger at his uncle while trying to stay a float with only one arm helping him wade. He leaned to one side and began to sink. "No I didn't." Iroh replied happily as he searched the water for fish. "I said the water is great, and it is."

"Ice water is not great!"

"Not icy, just cold, very cold." Iroh said as he moved slowly through the water, chasing after a large group of fish.

"Really, really cold water and Ice water are practically the same thing." Zuko said,

"Either way, the water is great." Iroh said, growing bored of the argument.

"Cold water is not great." Zuko snapped as he, too, began to take interest in the dozens of fish swimming around his feet

"It is great on a warm summer morning." Iroh replied as he tried in vain to snatch up a fish.

"That would be a matter of opinion." Zuko replied, now adjusting to the temperature with the help of his fire bending.

"Correct," Iroh said, frowning as a fish nipped his finger and swam away "and its my opinion that cold water is great on a warm summer morning." With that the debate ended as both fire bender put all of their enrgy into staying afloat in the pond that was easily twice as deep as Iroh was tall, and catching fish.

"I caught one." Iroh said tossing a medium sixed fish to the shore. It looked like the same one he'd shown Zuko as temptation earlier. "I cant get one." Zuko said.

"It takes paitience, my nephew. Paitience and precission." Iroh said shaking his finger at the boy in a know way. "Observe."

Iroh waded to the shallower waters and watched as the fish huddled to the opposite side of the large pond, then he swam beneath the surface and emerged feet from the gathering. Zuko watched carefully. The fish began to stir, His uncle inched closer, the fish broke in a panic. Iroh raised his hand high and sliced through the water. In an instant he brought his hand to the surface with a small fish in his hand. He threw the flapping, gaping soon-to-be meal right ontop of the other one that had already ceased his flapping.

"I want to try!" Zuko said as he swam to his uncles side and watched the fish, he raised his arm and flung it down wards. Hurting himself, scattering the fish, and remaining empty handed. "No fair!" Zuko said. "it worked when you did it!"

"Paiteince, My nephew. Now then observe" Iroh said as he demonstrated the technique again.

"That's what I did." Zuko said frustration appearant on his face.

"Paitince my nephew, dont just look at my movements. Observe them. See what it is that I am doing." Iroh lectured. Zuko bit his lip, he was hungry, this was no time for lessons. But Zuko watched him catch another fish. He holds his hand to a discreet angle, Zuko noted to himself watching his uncle perform the same moment. But miss his target.

Iroh took a deep breath, this time he repeated the same motion, Zuko saw him flick his wrist just a moment before slicing into the water. "Now I wanna try!" He said as he saw-what he hoped was-the trick to the technique.

Zuko waded a few feet deeper into the water and then kicked his legs to stay in place. He raised his hand, making him arm stiff and rigid. He raised his hand above the water, saw the fish swimming below the surface, he waited as it climbed just a little higher in the water. He slammed his hand onto the surface, slicing into the still water and flicked his wrist slightly as the fish darted away-only to have his tail fins gripped tightly in hungry hands.

"I got one!" Zuko cheered, he struggled to bring the fish to the surface, to bring it out of the water and into the air.

"Wait, Zuko. All of the fish in the water c-" Iroh called to his nephew who wasn't listening in all his excitement.

"Oomph!" Zuko gapsed as the fish-who fought for his life-jerked quickly to each side, left, right, left, right. Straight ahead, left, right.

"Zuko! Come here." Iroh called.

"Uncle, I got him, He's huge too." Zuko laughed as he pulled the fish upward only to sink halfway to his ear in the water.

"St-" Iroh begin as Zuko was drug underwater as the large fish seemed to be more determined to live then Zuko was to eat. Zuko groaned with effort and immediately regretted letting the little air his lungs had held escape.

Zuko bobbed upward for one last instant. He gasped for breath.

"Zuko, Let go! That is the pri-"

Zukos legs kicked in the air as the fish swam for the bottom of the lake. Suddenly the small boy and the large fish dissapeared from the surface of the pond, leaving only the resounding ripples on the surface to tell of them ever having been.

Iroh watched anxiously, for a moment. Twenty seconds, he waded into the area that he'd last seen his nephew, He bobbed under the water, trying to see. Their was a mass of bubbles coming from further below. But the trees grew thick over head , and the pond was deep The suns light didn't penetrate deep enough in the water. He couldnt see much else, he went to the surface, took a breath and made a ball of fire, and dove under water. Shaking with the effort of retaining the torch lit under water. Finally he saw the form of his struggling nephew.

He extinguished the flame, felt his energy mixed with adrenaline fuel his body and his swam downward. Grabbed the boys legs and pulled, The boy waved his arms and then went limp as a few small bubble left his open mouth. The old firebender pulled his nephew upward until he held the boy by the chest and broke the surface with four power kicks of his legs. He drug the sputtering heap that was his nephew to dryu land. The boy coughed and choked, and then coughed somemore.

Iroh placed his hands on the boys chest, felt the excess liquid inside, He placed his hands between the boys chest muscle as he'd been taught years ago when they'd marched on waterbenders in the northern regions of the world and pushed down hard. The boy coughed and sputtered as nearly a cup of water left his mouth and nose. Iroh wipe the boys face and sat him up.

"Prince Zuko? Prince Zuko talk to me, are you okay?" Iroh asked worried.

"St--- sh." The boy muttered acidly, eyeing the lake. Iroh noted the scratched the boy had on his hands from the fishes sharp scales.

"What?" Iroh said noticing the small slices on the boys thighs

"I'm g----a g--- st" the boy muttered again. Iroh feared the boy had withdrawn into shock.

"Prince Zuko, calm your self, you need rest. Its okay, you did fine. Only—" Iroh was planning on reminding his nephew on the lesson about starting small. While giving the lesson on listening again But the boy leapt ot his feet. And began to shout.

"I said, 'I am going to get that stupid fish!' and I meant it." With that the boy ran and leapt into the water, he kicked out from the shore and then splashed around as he shouted words that would require his mouth to be rinsed with soap and water, the boy seemed to have found his target, for he raised his hand the way he'd doen before. Iroh noted the glow of thin flames around it as Zuko grabbed the fish by its fins and began immediately to breath deeply as he kicked against the water. the fish mustv'e been stunned by the alien feeling of flames. Zuko-though still struggling-was getting the best of him easily now.

Zuko laughed happily at his victory and his large breakfast. "Prince Zuko, please listen to me."

Iroh called. The boy was behaving as though he was deaf. Iroh massaged his temples as the boy struggled with the fish again, slowly making his way back to the shore. So hardheaded, just like his father. Iroh sighed. He would have to leave it to experience to make him wise.

Zuko struggled for more than five minute bringing the large fish to shore, but once in shallow, knee deep water, the fish was all but dead anyway. Zuko heaved mightily and brought the fish up throught the mud. The fish floundered one last time. Zuko dunked it in the water and threw the thing ashore.

Leaping out happily. "I did it! I did it!" he shouted happily. Stomping around the fish in circles and making muscles in his arm. "look at him uncle. The thing weighs as much as Azula, he had home field advantages in the water and was strong as an ox." The boy said happily, grinning brilliantly for the first time in a long time. Iroh smiled softly, knowing the boys joy would be short lived. The moment Zuko stopped raving, Iroh would speak a few words that would set him fuming.

"But, lo and behold, the Prince of the Fire Nation was stronger, wasn't I uncle. He nearly drowned me, but I didn't give up! And-" Prince Zuko stopped suddenly, noting his uncles quietness and the lack of speech.

He's not scolding me for not listening, and he's not congratulating me on my victory?…

"That is true, Prince Zuko, the Spiny-Ox fish is very heavy, and extremely strong. But it is also unedible." Iroh said calmly.

"What?" Zuko asked as his eyebrows twitched with tension.

"The fish," Iroh pointed at it, "You cant eat it. No one can. It is poisonous." Iroh said.

Nearly three miles away, on the sloping hillside path that they dou had traveled along to reach the small forest that they now hid away in the morning in, several people with warm fully bellies stopped as they heard someone scream.

"AAAGGGHHHH!" Prince Zukos shouts could be heard for miles, infact if the palace hadn't been located even further back in the midsty of the bustling city, he would've put the Kamodo Rhinos into a fright.

"Daddy, whats that sound?' A small boy asked looking down the sloping hill at the small forest that he'd always been assured was empty of monsters. "I dont know…Lets keep moving son." The farmer said, taking his son by the hand and leading him away, toward the small town just miles up the road.

The End.

That was…well sort of dumb. I had wanted it to be funny but couldn't get it to stay short. I wish I was witty….any way I am sort of holding more in my mouth then I can chew. I have to finish, A time for proverbs and this goes in my collection of drabbles and one shots. If there is something that you want me to do then send me suggestions in any way possible.

Thanks